Flour's chocolate chunk cookies

To me, chocolate chip cookies equal comfort baking and eating. They're easy to make and delicious to eat so there's a big payoff. So when I have some free time, I often get the notion to make a batch. I like to make the dough, let it sit a day or so in the fridge, and bake some up to enjoy with my fellas. I usually freeze a few to have on standby but they rarely last more than a week or two in the freezer.

Flour's recipe has chunks of dark chocolate as well as bits of milk chocolate that add a deeper caramel flavor to the cookies

Like brownies and oatmeal cookies, I've met many a delicious chocolate chip cookie. I have my favorite go-torecipes but it's fun to try a different version every once in a while. There may not be a whole lot of differences among chocolate chip cookie recipes but some little nuance or twist in a recipe can make a difference.

In this case, I thought of the chocolate chunk cookie recipe from Flour Bakery. I've made a few great recipes from the first cookbook (these milk chocolate hazelnut cookies are incredible, and then there were those surprisingly-easy homemade Oreos). When we visited the bakery in Boston, we had one of their chocolate chip cookies made with TCHO chocolate. I'm not sure if it was the TCHO chocolate that made the difference but it was really delicious. With that memory in mind, I went ahead and gave the chocolate chip/chunk cookie recipe a try.

You have the basics of the classic chocolate chip cookie here: butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, chocolate, you know the drill. The nuances in this particular recipe is the use of some bread flour (which might very well make you think of those thoroughly-talked-about Jacque Torres/New York Times chocolate chip cookies) for extra substance and chew, as well as a little milk chocolate thrown in with the dark.As a child, all I knew was milk chocolate. In recent years, my taste preference has definitely gone over to the dark side. It'd been the same way for my husband but recently, he and the little guy have renewed their affinity for milk chocolate and I have to say that it has its place in many desserts and even works better in some cases than dark chocolate. In this particular instance, the smaller bits of milk chocolate are a great partner to the larger chunks of dark chocolate. It adds a caramel flavor and sweetness to the background of these cookies that I was a big fan of.

You know...I have to say that I've yet to be able to mimic that bakery-style chocolate chip cookie texture that I love. I'm talking about the hefty ones that are super crusty and firm yet also chewy and melding at the same time. The home versions are just not quite that extreme somehow. I keep thinking it has something to do with professional versus home ovens but I'm not sure. All I know is that at home, I get wonderful oven-fresh cookies and I can do myself the favor of using the best ingredients I can find. That's especially true when it comes to the chocolate. Use good stuff and what you like to eat because you can taste it in chocolate chip/chunk cookies. In this case, a darker chocolate (higher % cacao, say 60%-70%) works really well as it contrasts with the smaller bits of sweeter milk chocolate within. So while these cookies I made at home aren't precisely the one we bought and ate from Flour Bakery (I didn't notice any milk chocolate at the time), they were certainly delicious. Crisp and dark at the corners, soft in the center, my favorite thing about them was the flavor - the caramel-butterscotch undertones against the chunks of melty dark chocolate. Chilling the dough at least overnight, or for a few days, in the refrigerator to develop the flavor and color is a very good thing to do.

I just want to say that one of the other perks of baking and having chocolate chip cookies in the house (besides eating and sharing them) is stowing them away in a jar, then opening up the jar every so often and inhaling that beautiful caramel-chocolate aroma! Am I crazy? Don't answer that...Recipe:

- Makes approximately 24 large cookies - 2 sticks (228 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature3/4 cup (150 grams) granulated sugar3/4 cup (165 grams) firmly packed light brown sugar2 eggs1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract1 cup (140 grams) unbleached all-purpose flour1 cup (150 grams) bread flour1 teaspoon baking soda1/2 teaspoon kosher salt9 ounces (255 grams; 1 1/2 cups) dark chocolate, chopped (with 62% to 70% cacao recommended)2 1/2 ounces (70 grams; scant 1/2 cup) milk chocolate, finely choppedIn the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars together on medium speed for about 5 minutes, until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat together until thoroughly combined, 2-3 minutes. In a medium bowl, whisk flours, baking soda, and salt together. Add chocolates and stir together. On low speed, gradually add the flour-chocolate mixture and mix until evenly incorporated. (Once all the flour-chocolate has been added, I like to finish mixing by hand with a rubber spatula.)Scrape the cookie dough to an airtight container, cover and refrigerator overnight (or at least 3-4 hours), or up to a week. To bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees and set a rack in the center of the oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicon baking mat.Drop 1/4-cup dough rounds onto the prepared baking sheet, spacing each about 2 inches apart. Lightly press down on each round with the palm of your hand to flatten slightly. Bake until edges are golden brown and the center is set but still slightly soft, about 15 to 18 minutes. Let cool for about 5 minutes on the cookie sheet, then transfer the cookies to a cooling rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining cookie dough.Cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. The cookie dough can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Hi Beth - you know I've seen lots of cookies with semisweet and white chocolate chips or toffee bits thrown in but recently (mainly by accident), I started using more than one kind of semisweet chocolate when I make a batch of chocolate chip cookies and I like that subtle contrast. Now this idea of a bit of milk chocolate is pretty genius, I think. It's subtle but a great trick to adding more caramel flavor to the dough.

Great post Monica! The inclusion of the bread flour is interesting. I so know what you mean about trying to achieve the freshly baked artisan cookie at home. Hmm, these look divine. I am going to have to try them out. Have a great weekend!

You said it! The "artisan" cookies are precisely what I'm talking about. No matter how finely I try to follow a professional recipe, I can't get that heft, rough heartiness yet almost-stretchy chew that you often get from artisan bakers. Oh well...I'm happy with what I can make at home but those are definitely a treat! I sometimes think it's better not to try to exactly replicate those but to seek out other recipes where you don't directly compare...

I am always on a quest to find that perfect bakery style cookie too. I think these look just like ones you would find at the bakery- they're gorgeous Monica! I love that you added dark and milk chocolate. I can't wait to try these since I haven't tried this recipe yet - how does it compare to the Jacques Torres' ones?

Just can't get that artisan choc chip cookie at home, Kelly! I read somewhere recently that some bakeries use shortening for that texture (...cue my shocked reaction! that just can't be!). Anyway, maybe that's why my favorite homemade cookies are often oatmeal and even whole wheat ones. You don't automatically think of the choc chip cookie from Jacque Torres and wonder why yours didn't turn out like his! I didn't have much luck with that recipe...maybe I should try it again. It made for such huge cookies and I remember mine were soft but not very much like the crazy-amazing one I had at his shop. These cookies with the bread flour is reminiscent of those but I like the bit of milk chocolate here...it's almost like a shortcut to ensure more flavor.

Great minds think alike! I just made a cookie recipe from the Flour Bakery book, too, but I have yet to try this one. Yours look amazing, so now I'm intrigued. I'm a firm believer that multiple kinds of chocolate in cookies make them better.

Love that! Will swing by to check it out. I'm totally loving the idea of using different chocolates - just even varying cacao % dark chocolates in the cookies make for a really nice contrast, I realized!

So true about milk chocolate Monica! The chocolate of my childhood was always milk chocolate, it is much later that I discovered dark chocolate. And I love it even now. Chocolate chips cookies are the best. A double dose of chocolate can only make them DIVINE!

Monica, these cookies have my full attention and I am having a weak chocolate moment so anything could happen. I think I will first start by making your chocolate cookie dough but I see an issue with keeping little paws off the dough for 24 hours or longer. What should I do set an alarm, put shock collars on all of the restless teenagers. How do you keep the paws off the dough? Great little recipe and post. Pinning this one so I can make later, maybe after I send the kids off to camp... LOL

You just totally cracked me up! Oddly, and this will sound crazy to most people, I have never had the urge to eat raw cookie dough! Not sure why...the raw egg doesn't really bother me but cookie dough has never appealed to me. The baked cookie is an entirely different story, of course!

Those look superb! I've yet to buy any of the Flour cookbooks, but i certainly need to: at least I should test-drive one by adding it to the library list (which i'm going to do right after this, thanks for the nudge!). Interesting about the milk chocolate: i'd like to try that sometime, because i don't think i've ever once used milk chocolate in a cookie recipe. I wonder if achieving the perfect twin to a bakery cookie lies in the oven: i always suspect that's at least part of it, especially if there's a convection oven involved. My microwave doubles as a convection oven (but it's obviously smaller than a real oven, so i don't use it for every day baking), but it's interesting to note the differences in the final product between the two types.

I really like some milk chocolate in cookies and maybe that caramel-flavor note working with the cookie dough is a good reason. I've also been highly suspicious/convinced that those confection ovens have a lot to do with the cookie's end result. I have a convection setting on my oven but I'm afraid...I think you need to be making a lot of cookies to get it to come out the way they do at the bakery (or close) but just not sure and don't want to sacrifice cookies for it right now!

The recipe is saved! These chocolate chunk cookies look PHENOMENAL!!! I want THREE at least. I dream of having your cookie jar instead... so nice! And dangerous. I'll finish all at night after kids go to sleep... I always feel like nice bakery cookies use more butter? I'm not sure (not expert here). =P

Glad you like it. A good, warm chocolate chip cookie from your own oven is a beautiful thing, even if it's not quite like the baker's. : ) I think you are right...I always suspect there is *more* butter, more sugar and just more more in the professional stuff! ; )

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Thank you for visiting my blog, where I journal some of the results of my sweet (and sometimes savory) creations in the kitchen! It's all about having fun, learning from others, and enjoying the fruits of your labor with those you care about.